


Not A Date

by VampireVengence



Category: X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Accidental meeting, Cherik - Freeform, Coffee, Coffee date, Gen, M/M, lost phone, single parent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:34:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21836008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampireVengence/pseuds/VampireVengence
Summary: It was quite by accident that Charles and Erik met. After all, chasing a six-year-old around a supermarket can lead to a lapse in concentration in other important areas... like steering your shopping cart.
Relationships: Emma Frost & Erik Lehnsherr, Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Comments: 2
Kudos: 68





	Not A Date

It was quite by accident that Charles and Erik met. After all, chasing a six-year-old around a supermarket can lead to a lapse in concentration in other important areas... like steering your shopping cart.

"Nina! Come back here now." Erik cried as he chased the giggling six-year-old down the main aisle. Other customers rolled their eyes and tutted at his poor parenting skills. He'd like to see them do better in his situation, single parenting a sixteen and a six-year-old was no easy task.

He was so absorbed with watching his youngest causing havoc that he never even saw the other cart emerging from the side aisle. It was the metallic screech of metal colliding with metal and the impact that nearly sent him toppling over into his cart that caused him to look up in surprise.

"I am so sorry!" He cried, cheeks flushing with embarrassment. The guy he'd crashed into just smiled. All beautiful blue eyes and teeth on an adorable baby face under slightly curled dark hair. "Oh, it's quite alright." British too. _Oh, sweet Jesus, I'm in trouble._

Erik was saved from potentially embarrassing himself by a light tug on his pant leg. He looked down to his smiling daughter, Mr Bunny in hand. He quickly scooped her up and placed her in the cart. "There, no more running off." She looked up at him with her mother's large brown eyes, full of joy and innocence and he shook his head, smiling softly.

"You have pretty eyes." She announced, turning to the stranger. Thankfully he didn't seem at all phased and Erik released a breath he hadn't realised he was holding. "Why thank you! So do you. I bet they get you out of lots of trouble." Nina just giggled, hiding her blush behind Mr Bunny. "Yes." Erik agreed, smiling fondly. "She's especially skilled at that."

The stranger chuckled, blue eyes sparkling. "Charles Xavier." He said, extending a hand for Erik to shake.  
"Erik Lehnsherr."   
"And I'm Nina!" She cried, not to be forgotten of course.   
"Well it was lovely to meet you Nina." Charles enthused causing her to grin brightly before dropping down to sit in the cart, apparently bored with the conversation. Charles chuckled softly as Erik shook his head. "It was nice meeting you, Erik."

Erik pulled up outside his small apartment feeling slightly dazed. Blue eyes filled his mind the entire drive home; he couldn't seem to shake off the spell they'd put him under.

He quickly helped an already fidgety Nina out of her car seat before grabbing the groceries and heading inside.

"Yeah... no, actually he just walked through the front door." As Erik placed the groceries on the counter his son walked in with the landline in his hand. "It's Emma." He said offering it out to him. He took it.  
"Hello?"  
"Erik." She greeted, amusement clear in her tone. "Did you forget something?" He frowned, forehead creasing in his confusion.   
"I don't think so, why?" She chuckled.   
"Well, you see I just had a lovely chat with a wonderful young man called Charles... on your mobile. It seems you dropped it."

Erik blinked in disbelief before absent-mindedly checking his empty pockets. He couldn't quite believe it, Charles had his phone. 

"Erik? You still there?"   
"Yeah, sorry. Didn't even realise I'd lost it. I don't suppose he mentioned anything about its return?" He rubbed a clammy hand against his jacket. Why was he so nervous all of a sudden? It was absurd! "Well, he suggested you two meeting at the Starbucks a couple of blocks from the park tomorrow afternoon. About one o'clock ish. I said I'd let him know."   
"Yeah, no that's- tomorrow. Tomorrow will be fine."

He internally slapped himself for becoming a total mess at the thought of seeing the man again. Tripping over himself like a teenage girl with her first crush. _Pull yourself together Lehnshurr!_

He ignored his son's gaze, eyebrows raised in confusion and disbelief. Emma simply laughed. "I'll let him know.'

*

"So let me get this straight." Peter began from where he sat on the kitchen counter, legs swinging back and forth. "You're going on a date with the guy you crashed your shopping cart into?" Erik sighed into his mug of instant coffee. It was way too early for this.  
"It's not a date, I am simply meeting with the man so I can retrieve my phone."

Erik had spent most of the night stressing out over seeing Charles again and did not need Peter making things any worse.

"And have coffee with him." He pointed out. Luckily Erik had already gone over this a million different ways in his head.  
"Just because we're meeting at a coffee shop doesn't mean we're having coffee together." _It's common ground. Just a normal public place where people sometimes meet._ "But what if he's having coffee?" Erik frowned.   
"So what if he is?" This seemed to astound the sixteen-year-old.

"What? You get there and he's enjoying his coffee and you're just gonna rock up like 'dude where's my phone?' and leave? That's just rude!" Erick blinked in confusion and disbelief. "Do you want this to be a date?"

Erik regretted the words instantly as this set his son's mind off at a mile a minute down a totally different path. "What? No! That would be weird. I mean you crashed your shopping cart into the guy and forgot your phone like a moron, that would be weird. You should totally start dating again though. I mean it's been what four years since Magda? I get it, you were grieving and you love her and all that but it's time to move on. You've got to start putting yourself out there."

Erik sighed and shook his head. He already got frequent earfuls about this from Emma without Peter going on at him too. Erik didn't need anybody; he was perfectly okay with just him and his kids. He most definitely did not need to think about maybe turning this into a date.

*

"Coffee, black." Erik sighed. He'd arrived at the coffee shop to find Charles wasn't there. The place was quiet for once leaving Erik with no choice but to sit and wait. Of course, that meant he had to buy a coffee. Mug in hand, he found an empty seat by the window and began his wait.

"Erik?" He jumped in surprise and looked up to find Charles sliding into the seat opposite him. "Sorry." He smiled warmly. "You seemed deep in thought." Erik laughed lightly.   
"Not really. Just tired." He shook himself slightly as Charles eyed the black coffee suspiciously.  
"Late Night?" _You have no idea._

"Nina has gotten into the habit of getting up at all hours so she can talk to the owls that live in the trees behind the apartment block." He didn't know why he was telling a total stranger this but Charles didn't seem to mind. "Oh, how sweet." He smiled.   
"And exhausting. It doesn't seem to matter how many times I put her back to bed she just gets up again." Charles didn't really have any advice for him. "I'm sure she'll grow out of it."

"I have something for you." He said, changing the subject entirely. He pulled out Erik's beat-up old phone and slid it across the table.  
"Thank you." Erik smiled with relief. "I didn't even realise I'd lost it until Emma called." Charles laughed.   
"She certainly had a lot to say about you." Erik could only imagine some of the things Emma had to say about him.  
"Should I be worried?" Charles laughed once more causing Erik to smile, this guy was infectious.  
"Not at all... well, maybe a little." Erik groaned.

The time flew by as the pair talked and it wasn't until Erik's phone buzzed with a text from Peter asking about food that he realised what time it was. _Six pm. Oh shit._ "I should probably get going." Charles seemed just as surprised when he checked his watch.  
"I suspect they'll be kicking us out soon anyway." He chuckled.

"Well, I had fun." Erik said as they exited the coffee shop.  
"Me too. We should do it again some time." Erik nodded along and the pair fell into silence, a comfortable one that felt easy and natural between them.

Eventually, Charles broke the silence by chuckling softly. He grabbed Erik's hand, pulling a pen from his pocket and writing on the back of it. "See you around Erik."

When Erik got home the first thing he noticed was the warm smell of melted cheese and garlic bread. "Hey." Peter greeted as Erik walked into the kitchen. A large pizza sat in the middle of the table with a box of garlic bread. "Papa!" Nina grinned, sauce all over her face.   
"You ordered pizza?" Erik raised an eyebrow as he sat down at the head of the table.  
"Well, you never replied to my text so I figured I'd save everyone the food poisoning and order something." Erik smiled and helped himself to a slice.

"So how was your date?" Erik blushed but ignored it in favour of rolling his eyes at his son. Nina gasped excitedly.  
"Papa! You had a date?" Erik rolled his eyes once more.  
"It was _not_ a date." Peter smirked.   
"Oh no. I'm sure it takes everyone five hours to collect their phone off of a total stranger, and I'm sure they all walk away with said strangers phone number on the back of their hand." Erik's blush deepened and he narrowed his eyes at his eldest who continued to give him a knowing look.   
"Shut up." 


End file.
